Emma Xerri
The Bureau of Meteorology has finally given Australians some good news to cling to as many continue to endure the hardships inflicted by the current La Niña event.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the current La Niña event will be 'relatively short lived', with the weather event likely to decline over spring, in time for a return to neutral conditions in early 2023.
Dr Agus Santoso of UNSW’s Climate Change Research Centre told 7News: “In general, La Niña or, and also El Nino, tends to peak in summer itself and then starts to decay in autumn.
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“But this particular La Niña event (will) peak next month, in November, and then, it starts decaying from there on.”
Australia has experienced three seasons of colder atmospheric phenomenon, which leads to higher levels of rainfall, a trend further influenced by rising ocean temperatures.
Unfortunately, the impacts of climate change continue to affect the Australian and global climate.
While Australia's climate has increased by around 1.47 °C between 1910 and 2020, the effects of climate change have also led to greater rainfall from short, high intensity rainfall events.
Tom Saunders, ABC’s weather forecaster for Sydney, acknowledged the frightening increase in Australia’s rainfall, saying: "It’s not like we’ve just scraped in…the record has been obliterated. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
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According to The Bureau, this summer marks the fourth time since 1900 that Australia has endured three La Niñas in a row.
Four consecutive La Niña events have never happened before.
Dr Santoso said: “If we have extreme weather systems coming in, like what we had in March earlier this year then that would lead to flooding because...dams are already full and the catchments are already saturated.”
However, ABC’s Tom Saunders has provided Australians with a shred of hope, saying that although you 'can’t rule it out entirely'. a fourth La Niña in a row is 'very unlikely'.